Thumbs doing all the talking? Five ways to manage your messaging

Half your waking life

High school students appear to spend almost nine hours per day—more than half your waking hours—on electronic devices, according to a national study. That includes time spent texting (you send an average of 55 texts a day), listening to music, using social media, streaming shows, playing games, and a bunch of other stuff.

Addictive brain chemistry

Phone notifications release dopamine, the same feel-good chemical triggered by eating sugar, falling in love, and finishing a level in Candy Crush. “We’re not really addicted to our cell phones per se but to the activities on our phones,” says Dr. James Roberts of Baylor University in Waco, Texas, who specializes in the psychology of consumer behavior.

Losing control while driving

Almost all of us agree that texting while driving is dangerous, yet 6 out of every 10 drivers have done it, according to AT&T’s It Can Wait survey (2015).

Worse grades & worse sleep

More than 80 percent of students acknowledge that their gadgets interfere with their learning, and one in four say this hurts their grades, according to a 2013 study published in the Journal of Media Education. In addition, phone use is a common sleep disruptor—and sleep disruption just makes everything horrible.

How to get your texting under control

1. Test yourself

Think you can get away with texting while driving? Maybe you’ve been lucky. That will change. Check out the online texting-while-driving simulator by AT&T.

2. Set the mood

Activity

Where to put the phone

Make it easier

Driving

Ask for a stand-alone GPS as a gift, buy one for yourself, or try to find one on Freecycle

Going to bed

Charge it in a different room

Borrow your parent's old alarm clock

On a date

In the car

Suggest that your date do the same

On vacation

Leave it in the hotel

Use a digital camera or an old-school Polaroid

At the gym

In your locker

Use an mp3 player or iPod for music

3. Use an app or #x

AT&T’s DriveMode and Sprint’s Drive First apps silence your phone and respond to messages for you. Or text #x to let friends know you’re about to drive.

4. Reality check

When you can measure something, you can manage it. Use an app like Moment (iPhone) or BreakFree (Android) to track how much time you’re spending on your phone. Try it, then see if you can resist texting about it. Or take the Smartphone Abuse Test.